Recipe :: British Gammon in Coca-Cola

We enjoyed a slightly adapted version of Nigella Lawson's ham in Coca-Cola recipe for New Year's Eve this year. Despite our love for coke and the number of recipes out there using it as a key ingredient this was the first time we cooked with it. We made a few tweaks here and there - to accommodate for lack of ingredients and to incorporate other ideas we and our good friends had - and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

2kg British gammon joint

1 red onion, peeled and cut in half

2-litre bottle of regular Coca-Cola

Handful of cloves

About 4 tablespoons grainy dijon mustard

A couple of tablespoons of brown sugar

A couple of tablespoons of Spanish honey

Nigella's Instructions with a few tweaks:

Put the ham in a pan covered with cold water, bring to the boil, then tip into a colander in the sink and start from here; otherwise, put the gammon in a pan, skin-side down if it fits like that, add the onion, then pour over the Coke.

Bring to the boil, reduce to a good simmer, put the lid on loosely and cook for just under 2½ hours. If your joint is larger or smaller, work out timing by reckoning on an hour per kilo, remembering that it's going to get a quick blast in the oven later. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9.

At the end of the specified time, let the ham cool a bit and then remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Score the fat with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes, and stud each diamond with a clove. Then spread the glaze you made with the honey, sugar and mustard all over the ham generously. Cook in a foil-lined roasting tin for approximately 10 minutes or until the glaze is burnished and bubbly.

A perfect holiday meal or something for a rainy day! Best served with roasted vegetables and brussels sprouts. Fois gras, home made fig jelly and home made bread as a starter go really well too! Thanks to our good friends for a fabulous evening!

We were so busy cooking and enjoying ourselves we completely forgot to take a picture!

Recipe :: Rosemary Lamb and Potatoes

Perfect meal for a holiday or cold winter day from BBC Good Food...

Main Ingredients:

2½ kg leg of lamb

6 slices Parma ham

4 garlic cloves

lemon , zested - we adapted this and used orange instead which was really good

2 sprigs rosemary - we used more than the original amount

25g butter , softened

2kg maris piper potatoes , peeled and cut into 1cm slices

500 ml vegetable stock

Gravy Ingredients:

25g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

4 small red onions , peeled and sliced

1 tbsp plain flour

250ml red wine or port

600ml lamb or beef stock

1 tbsp redcurrants jelly - we used blueberries instead as didn't have any of this

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 230C/fan 210C/gas 8. Start by making deep incisions all over the meaty side of the leg of lamb using a small knife. Whizz the Parma ham, garlic, lemon zest and half of the rosemary in a food processor. Season with pepper and using your fingers, push the mixture into the incisions in the lamb. Pull the rest of the rosemary into sprigs and push a sprig into each incision. Spread the butter over the surface of the meat and season well.

Season the potatoes, arrange in a roasting tin and pour the stock around. Put the lamb on top and roast for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and continue to cook for a further 1 hour and 15 minutes.

While the lamb is cooking, make the gravy. Heat the butter and olive oil in a saucepan, add the onions and cook until golden brown. Add the flour and cook for a further 30 seconds. Pour in the red wine, bring to the boil and reduce by half. Add the stock, redcurrant jelly and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Season and serve with the lamb and potatoes and enjoy!